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Microsoft Office XML formats

file format family introduced at Microsoft Office XP and Microsoft Office 2003

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionAug 25, 2026
Entity authorityQ1727359 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Microsoft Office XML formats are XML-based document formats (or XML schemas) introduced in versions of Microsoft Office prior to Office 2007. Microsoft Office XP introduced a new XML format for storing Excel spreadsheets and Office 2003 added an XML-based format for Word documents.

These formats were succeeded by Office Open XML (ECMA-376) in Microsoft Office 2007.

File formats

Microsoft Office Word 2003 XML Format — WordProcessingML or WordML (.XML)

Microsoft Office Excel 2002 and Excel 2003 XML Format — SpreadsheetML (.XML)

Microsoft Office Visio 2003 XML Format — DataDiagramingML (.VDX, .VSX, .VTX)

Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 XML Format — XML FormTemplate (.XSN) (Compressed XML templates in a Cabinet file)

Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 XML Format — XMLS FormTemplate (.XSN) (Compressed XML templates in a Cabinet file)

Limitations and differences with Office Open XML

Besides differences in the schema, there are several other differences between the earlier Office XML schema formats and Office Open XML.

Whereas the data in Office Open XML documents is stored in multiple parts and compressed in a ZIP file conforming to the Open Packaging Conventions, Microsoft Office XML formats are stored as plain single monolithic XML files (making them quite large, compared to OOXML and the Microsoft Office legacy binary formats). Also, embedded items like pictures are stored as binary encoded blocks within the XML. In the case of Office Open XML, the header, footer, comments of a document etc. are all stored separately.

XML Spreadsheet documents cannot store Visual Basic for Applications macros, auditing tracer arrows, charts and other graphic objects, custom views, drawing object layers, outlining, scenarios, shared workbook information and user-defined function categories. In contrast, the newer Office Open XML formats support full document fidelity.

Poor backward compatibility with the version of Word/Excel prior to the one in which they were introduced. For example, Word 2002 cannot open Word 2003 XML files unless a third-party converter add-in is installed.

Editorial summary

“Microsoft Office XML formats” enters the record as file format family introduced at Microsoft Office XP and Microsoft Office 2003. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Microsoft, Office and formats can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2007, 2003, 2002—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Microsoft, Office and formats.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Microsoft Office XML formats” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Microsoft, Office and formats provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1727359. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2007, 2003 and 2002.

Critical limits

A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

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  2. Expand the search: follow Microsoft Office XML formats primary sources, Microsoft Office XML formats archive and Microsoft research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Microsoft Office XML formats” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.